It was only while I was scraping out the last of the delicate cream from
the inside of a huge cocoa-nut that I recalled the task we had to come,
and a curious shiver ran through me as I glanced in the direction of the
swamp where, nearly a mile away, the reptile lay.
Ebo knew nothing about it as yet, and I hardly conceived how he would be
made to understand what we had seen.
"Do you think he will be ready to help kill the serpent, uncle?" I
said, after waiting for some time to see if he would say anything about
the attack.
"I hardly know, Nat," he replied cheerily; "but we'll soon try him. By
the way, use the cartridges with the largest kind of shot, for we must
make up for this morning's mistakes. Here, Ebo, we've seen a snake," he
said.
"Ung-kul, Nat-mi-boi. Hal-lo, hal-lo hal-lo!" replied Ebo, laughing
merrily, and showing his white teeth.
"We shall not get at his understanding like that," said my uncle
quietly; and he sat thinking for a moment.
"Shall I try and draw a snake, uncle?" I said.
"To be sure, Nat," he replied, laughing; "but where are paper, pencil,
or chalk? Stop a minute--I have it."
We generally carried a stout piece of cord with us, ready for any
emergency, and this cord, about ten yards long and a little thicker than
clothes-line, my uncle now untwisted from his waist, where he had worn
it like a belt, and calling Ebo's attention to it he laid it out upon
the ground. Then holding one end he made it wave about and crawl and
curve and twine, ending by knotting it up in a heap and laying the end
carefully down as if it were a serpent asleep.
Ebo watched the process attentively, at first seriously and then as if
delighted, clapping his hands, dancing, and chattering away as if
telling my uncle how clever he was.
"But that does not show him what we want, uncle," I said.
"Well, then, you try."
I took up the rope, made it undulate a little, and then as Ebo looked on
I gave it a quick twist and wound it round him, pretending to make the
end bite.
He took to it directly, pretending that the reptile was crushing him,
fighting his way free of the folds, picking up his club and attacking it
in turn, beating the make-believe head with his club, and finally
indulging in a war-dance as he jumped round, dragging the imaginary
serpent after him, pretending all the while that it was very heavy,
before stooping down to smell it, making a grimace, and then throwing
down the rope, which he pretended to bury in the sand.
"It's all right, Nat. He understands, and has evidently encountered big
snakes. Now, then, to show him our enemy, for he will fight."
My uncle was right, for it was evident that Ebo quite understood us and
meant fighting, for, sticking his spear in the ground, he made signs to
me that I should lend him my hunting-knife, which I at once did, and
laughing and chattering away he looked about him a little, and then
proceeded to cut down a sapling tree about as thick as his arm, from
whose trunk he selected a piece a couple of feet in length and carefully
trimmed it into a formidable club with a smooth, small handle, while he
left the thick end jagged with the ugly places from which he had cut the
branches.
He was not long in getting it into shape, and no sooner had he satisfied
himself with his work than he returned my hunting-knife, making believe
that he was horribly afraid lest it should cut off his head, and then
proceeded to attack an imaginary serpent that was trying to escape
through the bushes. Now he was trying to strike it, now retreating, now
making blows at it upon the ground, now in the air, ending by dropping
his club and seizing the neck of the creature, which he pretended had
coiled round him; now he was down upon one knee, now overthrown and
rolling over and over in a fierce struggle; but at last his acting came
to a conclusion by his striking the reptile's head against a tree,
kicking off an imaginary coil from his leg, and strutting about proudly
to show how he had conquered.
The most surprising part of the affair was that he did not seem to be in
the slightest degree exhausted by his efforts, but picked up his club
and began chattering to us, and pointing to the marsh as if asking us to
come on.
"Well, Nat," said my uncle, "if he will only fight half as well as that
when we encounter the serpent, there ought to be nothing to fear. We
ought to master the brute easily."
"Would such a serpent be very strong, uncle?" I asked.
"Wonderfully strong," he replied. "Their muscles are tremendously
powerful. See what strength anything of similar form possesses; an eel,
for instance."
"Yes, uncle," I said thoughtfully, as I recalled how difficult I had
once found it to hold a large one that I had caught. "Eels are very
strong."
"Look here, Nat," said my uncle kindly, "I don't think we should run any
risks in following up this serpent, for one good shot would disable it;
but still it may be a little perilous, and it is not just to expect a
boy of your age to face such a danger. You stop back at a distance, and
I will send Ebo into the marsh to drive it out, while I try to get a
shot at it."
"Oh, no, uncle!" I said quickly.
"Come now, my boy," he cried, clapping me on the shoulder. "You are
going because you think I shall consider you cowardly if you stay
behind. I tell you truly, Nat, I shall not."
"I did feel something of that kind, uncle," I said warmly; "but that is
not all. I want to try and be brave and to master all my cowardly
feelings, and this seems such a chance."
He stood looking at me for a few minutes, and then said quietly:
"Very well then, Nat, you shall come. But be careful with your gun, and
do not fire unless you have a clear shot. Don't hurry, and mind that
Ebo is not near. As to the danger," he said, "there is very little.
The worst thing that could happen would be that the serpent might seize
you."